The tragic Hollywood story of Sharon Tate, Charles Manson’s most famous victim 

Mike Henry, veteran linebacker of the Los Angeles Rams, is shown in a new role as the new Tarzan of the movies, with actress Sharon Tate, who will co-star in his first film, Jan. 22, 1965, in Hollywood. With them is Major, a tame lion used in many jungle films. (AP Photo/David F. Smith)

Actress Sharon Tate is shown in a publicity photo, date unknown. (AP Photo)

US actors Tony Curtis and Sharon Tate make it look easy as they limber up on a trampoline which is being used in the new movie the two stars are making, called 'Don't make Waves' in Malibu Beach, California on September 5, 1966. (AP Photo)

American actress Sharon Tate and Polish born film director Roman Polanski skip downstairs after their wedding at Chelsea Registery Office, London in Jan. 20, 1968. (AP Photo)

Polish-born film director Roman Polanski kisses his bride American actress Sharon Tate after their marriage at Chelsea Registry Office, London, Jan. 20, 1968. American actress Barbara Parkins of television's 'Peyton Place', looks on left. (AP Photo/Staff/Worth)

Film director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate, lift their glasses in a toast at the premiere of his film 'Rosemary's Baby' in London, England, Jan. 23, 1969. (AP Photo)

Polish film director Roman Polanski with wife American actress Sharon Tate arrive for the film premiere of 'Rosemary's Baby' at the Paramount Theatre, in London, on Jan. 23, 1969. (AP Photo)

Nestled among the trees atop a hill in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles is the home of actress Sharon Tate, and her husband, Polish film director Roman Polanski where Miss Tate and four other people where found murdered on Aug. 9, 1969. One body is under the sheet in the front of the house at the upper left. Another is in the automobile at the lower right. A third was found near the swimming pool at the top and two other were found in the house. ( AP Photo )

Film director Roman Polanski, in dark glasses, is assisted by a Pan Am special services staff member, as he boards a plane at Heathrow bound for Los Angeles, Aug. 10, 1969. Polanski's wife, film star Sharon Tate, was murdered in Los Angeles, one of five victims of a ritualistic killing. (AP Photo)

Police officers stand on the property of actress Sharon Tate where the bodies of five persons, including Tate, were found murdered by members of the Manson cult family, August 9, 1969. (AP Photo)

Coroner Thomas Noguchi, facing camera center, directs the removal of the body of Abigail Folger, one of five persons slain at the Bel Air home of actress Sharon Tate, Aug. 9, 1969. In foreground is the covered body of Voityckyk Frokowski, another victim. (AP Photo)

Roman Polanski, left, and Deborah Tate, sister of Sharon Tate, are seen at Sharon's funeral in Inglewood, California, Aug. 13, 1969. Man in center unidentified. (AP Photo/Curt Gunther)

Roman Polanski, Polish film director whose wife, actress Sharon Tate, was slain with four other persons 10 days ago, tries to keep his emotions under control as he appears at a news conference in Beverly Hills, Aug. 19, 1969. He said of his 20-month marriage to Miss Tate that it was 'the only time of thorough happiness in my life.' Polanski shed no new light on the slayings. (AP Photo)

Charles M. Manson, the hippie-style cult leader charged with the killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others, leaves a Los Angeles courtroom with his pencils and paper after the judge ordered a plea of innocent, Jan. 29, 1970. Manson, acting as his own lawyer, responded with questions of his own each time the judge asked for a plea. It was his first court appearance since shaving his beard and mustache. (AP Photo)

Young people who identified themselves as members of the Charles Manson "family" leave a Los Angeles courtroom where the hippie-style cult leader was recorded as pleading innocent to charges of murdering actress Sharon Tate and six others, Jan. 29, 1970. Some members of the group gave newsmen their names as Gypsy, Cappy and Squeaky. (AP Photo)

A 1970 photo of Lynette Fromme, known as 'Squeaky,' a member of the Manson family, the group involved in the Sharon Tate murder. Fromme is shown here at a pre-trial hearing in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)

Members of Charles Manson's 'family' congregate in Los Angeles Hall of Justice, Feb. 24, 1970, for arraignment of Patricia Krenwinkel, a defendant in the Sharon Tate murder case. None of these is accused. From left: Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, Sandra Good, Mark Ross, Paul Watkins and Catherine 'Gypsy' Share holding Catherine Good's son Ivan. Two men partially hidden in back are unidentified. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)

Charles Tex Watson 24, charged in the slaying of actress Sharon Tate and others in California, in a courtroom at an extradition hearing in McKinney, Tex on Feb. 16, 1970.(AP Photo)

Susan Denise Atkins is shown as she is about to leave the Los Angeles County Mens' Jail, March 6, 1970, after meeting with Charles Manson, one of her co-defendants in the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and six others. Manson, acting as his own attorney, had asked to question Ms. Atkins, who was a principal witness before the grand jury which indicted the hippie 'family.' (AP Photo/Harold Filan)

Patricia Krenwinkel, a defendant in the Sharon Tate murder case, left, comes down a flight of stairs at the Los Angeles Hall of Justice en route to court to seek a change of venue, March 24, 1970, Los Angeles, Calif. She and other defendants, including hippie leader Charles Manson, currently are scheduled to be tried beginning April 20. The other women are unidentified. (AP Photo/Harold Filan)

Three members of Charles M. Manson's nomadic 'family' leave a Los Angeles court, March 30, 1970 on way to serve five-day jail sentence for contempt of court. After Judge William B. Keene ruled that Manson could not act as his own attorney, one of the members yelled, 'There is no justice in your court. You are a mockery.' Manson is to face trial on charges stemming from the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and six others. From left are Sandy Good, Mark Ross and Catherine 'Gypsy' Share, background right. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)

Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, left to right, are shown en route to court in Los Angeles, Ca., Aug. 1970. The three women, displaying the symbol X on their foreheads as followers of the Manson cult family, are on trial for killings that included actress Sharon Tate. (AP Photo)

A smiling Charles Manson goes to lunch after an outbreak in court that resulted in his ejection, along with three women co-defendants, from the his murder trial in Los Angeles Dec. 21, 1970. (AP Photo/George Brich)

Four young women members of the Charles Manson 'family' kneel on the sidewalk outside the Los Angeles at Hall of Justice on March 29, 1971, with their heads shaved. They've kept a vigil at the building throughout the long trial in which Manson and three other women were convicted of slaying actress Sharon Tate and six others. Left to right: Cathy Gillies, Kitty Lutesinger, Sandy Good, Brenda McCann. Jurors were believed near a verdict on the penalty to be imposed on the defendants. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)

Charles Manson is escorted to court for formal sentencing in Los Angeles, Ca., on April 19, 1971. He is convicted with three women followers of murder-conspiracy in the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and six others. (AP Photo)

Cult leader Charles Manson, who is linked to the Sharon Tate murders, is seen 1969. (AP Photo)

Susan Atkins, a key witness in the Sharon Tate murder trial is seen, 1969. (AP Photo)

Deputy District Attorneys Vincent Bugliosi, left, and Aaron Stovitz, holding picture of gun, talk to the press at the L.A. County courthouse during the county grand jury hearings on the Sharon Tate murders, Dec. 1969. (AP Photo)

Richard Caballero, attorney for Susan Denise Atkins, left, tells newsmen on Dec.2, 1969 in Santa Monica, California, that his client was at the scenes of the slayings of Sharon Tate and four others at her home and of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca but that she was under a 'hypnotic spell' and had 'nothing to do with the murders.' Caballero, whose client is charged in another murder, said she was 'hypnotized' and 'intrigued' into joining a cult led by Charles Manson, 34, now in jail at Independence, California. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)

Susan Atkins, key witness in the Sharon Tate case, shown with her attorney, Richard Cabellero at the county Grand Jury Hearing on Dec.5, 1969 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)

Terry Melcher, center, is shown leaving the grand jury room in Los Angeles after testifying in the Sharon Tate murder hearing, Dec. 5, 1969. (AP Photo)

Members of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department search a small well at a movie ranch near suburban Chatsworth, Dec. 11, 1969 in Los Angeles, looking for signs of Donald O'Shea, a stunt man who has been missing since last August after a reported quarrel with Charles Manson. Manson and five members of his 'family' have been charged with the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and seven others. Sheriff's deputies searched the ranch Wednesday, but reportedly found no clues. (AP Photo/George Brich)

This is the Spahn movie ranch near Chatsworth, a Los Angeles suburb, shown Dec. 11, 1969, where Charles Manson and his 'family' of hippies lived at the time actress Sharon Tate and seven others were slain. (AP Photo)

Charles Manson, leader of the desert cult accused of murder and conspiracy in the Sharon Tate murder case, casts his eyes downward as he enters a Los Angeles Superior Court room Dec. 24, 1969. He appeared in court for a hearing on his motion to defend himself when he comes to trial. (AP Photo)

By Martha Ross | mross@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

In the early 1960s, Sharon was the luminously beautiful daughter of an army intelligence officer who decided to try and make it as an actress in Hollywood.

Charles Manson dies of natural causes in California hospital

Doris Day’s Charles Manson connection revealed in Mike Love’s new book

The Manson family: Who’s left, and will they ever get out of prison?

But over the next few years, she would become best known, first, as the girlfriend of well-known Hollywood hair-stylist Jay Sebring and next as the wife of hot-shot director Roman Polanski.

Actress Sharon Tate poses for a portrait in 1968. (AP Photo) 

Even a co-starring role in one of 1967’s top box office hits, “Valley of the Dolls,” did little to boost Tate’s fame outside of being known as one-half of the internationally jet-setting super couple led by Polanski, who was basking in the acclaim of directing “Rosemary’s Baby.”

And, in the end, Tate would go down in history for her most tragic role of all: as the most famous victim of a grisly 1969 killing spree perpetrated by Charles Manson and his followers. The Manson family’s rampage, with its undercurrents of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, satanism and Manson’s proposed race war, would terrorize the Hollywood community and the rest of America as the 1960s came to an end.

News came Sunday that Manson died at a hospital in Kern County, near where he had been imprisoned for the 1969 killings of Tate and eight others. His death at age 83 will no doubt bring many retrospectives on his life and horrific crimes.

On Monday, an attorney for Polanski issued a statement saying that the murder of the director’s wife and unborn son “still remains too painful for him to make a statement.”

An excellent source for how Manson’s crimes fit into the larger context of American popular culture of the late 1960s comes in the meticulously produced 12-part podcast series “Charles Manson’s Hollywood.”

Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in conneciton with the Sharon Tate murder case, 1969, Los Angeles, Calif. (AP Photo) 

The 2015 series is part of “You Must Remember This,” an acclaimed Hollywood-history podcast by author and film critic Karina Longworth.

With her focus on Manson, Longworth makes the very convincing argument that his story isn’t just a true-crime saga, or a larger American saga, it’s specifically a Hollywood saga. She argues that Manson’s murders were his “fulfilled revenge fantasy” against a Hollywood establishment that frustrated and denied him his dreams of rock stardom.

In Longworth’s view, American popular culture of the late 1960s wasn’t just the backdrop for Manson’s crimes but may have been something of an accomplice.

Perhaps because of the eagerness of young Hollywood to embrace the counter-culture in films and music, Manson was able to gain a foothold in the Los Angeles entertainment scene. After the career criminal-turned cult guru learned to play guitar in prison, he became friends with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys and, more notably, with Byrds producer Terry Melcher, the son of actress Doris Day.

While The Beach Boys covered one of Manson’s songs, Melcher rejected Manson for a record deal. That rejection is considered to be one of the events that prompted Manson to target a certain house in Benedict Canyon, near Beverly Hills, for the start of his murderous spree on that August weekend in 1969.

Roman Polanski with wife Sharon Tate arrive for the film premiere of “Rosemary’s Baby”, at the Paramount Theatre, in London, on Jan. 23, 1969. (AP Photo) 

The house at 10050 Cielo Drive had been Melcher’s house up until February 1969, after which Tate and Polanski moved in. In fact, the traditional-looking, wood-and-glass hilltop home had been Tate’s “dream house,” says Longworth in one of two episodes of “Charles Manson’s Hollywood” that she dedicates to Tate’s story.

Most people are vaguely familiar with what happened early in the morning of Aug. 9, 1969. Four of Manson’s followers broke into Tate’s house and massacred its occupants, including the 26-year-old actress who was eight months pregnant at the time. The other victims at the house were Tate’s ex-boyfriend Sebring, two houseguests, and an 18-year-old visiting the property’s caretaker.

Polanski was not in Los Angeles at the time but in London, finishing up work on a film script.

It turns out that Polanski’s absence, physically and otherwise, is one of the themes of the final months of Tate’s life, according to Longworth’s podcast.

At the time, Polanski and Tate were considered one of Hollywood’s golden couples.

They met in 1966, when he agreed to cast her in “The Fearless Vampire Killers,” a spoof of vampire movies. Tate, who was still dating Sebring at the time, later agreed to pose semi-nude for a Playboy magazine layout that Polanski shot himself to promote the film.

As Tate and Polanski grew close during the filming, a romance grew, fueled by “a sexual connection that was off the charts,” Polanski would later say, according to Longworth.

Tate and Sebring parted amicably. But he would eventually return to her life as a close friend and confidante as it became apparent that Polanski wasn’t committed to the idea of monogamy and was reluctant to settle down into the idea of starting a family.

American actress Sharon Tate and Polish born film director Roman Polanski skip downstairs after their wedding at Chelsea Registery Office, London in Jan. 20, 1968. (AP Photo) 

Part of Tate was eager to go along with the so-called hippie life-style, which advocated for a free love ethos — which, Longworth points out, was mostly about serving the interests of men who wanted an excuse for playing the field.

“Women were supposed to be on the pill and were not supposed to have hang-ups but that often meant women had to sacrifice what they themselves wanted,” Longworth said.

“Sharon wanted to have a real relationship with Roman, she wanted to nest and have a baby and be a real family. But Roman convinced her that this was at least impractical if not impossible.”

Longworth quotes one of the interviews Tate gave at the time in which she openly condones Polanski’s playing around.

“This type of behavior is just part of the man,” Tate said in one interview. “Now I’ve got to think that there’s something wrong with a man who doesn’t have the drive to go out and see other girls. Any man who lets his wife tie him down or who takes him to task for following his natural instincts is a very meek man. He wouldn’t be the man for me.”

But Longworth questions whether Tate had been effectively brainwashed into buying Polanski’s free love attitude. “Those words also sort of sound like a woman who has been told a lie so many times that she comes to believe it,” Longworth said.

Maybe Polanski finally proposed marriage to Tate because he knew he wouldn’t get too much resistance from her in his desire to sleep with other women. They married in January 1968 in a hastily arranged wedding at the Playboy Club in London. Polanski was hungover from his bachelor party the night before.

The body of actress Sharon Tate is taken from her rented house on Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills. (AP Photo) 

Over the next year, they divided their time between Polanski’s apartment in London and homes in Los Angeles, where Polanski was known to hit the Sunset Strip most nights to pick up other women.

“Sharon and Roman’s love was real, but their relationship wasn’t perfect,” Longworth said. Despite Tate’s hope that marriage might tame her husband — it didn’t.

“One day he was driving his Ferrari around L.A., and he pulled up behind a woman, and yelled out a compliment to her on her beautiful arse,” Longworth said. “The woman turned around, and it was Roman’s wife.”

Longworth said the humiliations for Tate continued. Polanski, the film auteur, was an early adopter of the home video camera. One day, Tate and her friends found a pile of unmarked videos and decided to put one in the player. “One of the tapes was of Roman having sex with another woman — not Sharon — in Sharon and Roman’s bed,” Longworth said.

Polanski could also be highly critical of Tate, forcing her to sneak in her cigarette smoking, which Polanski hated. And when he hung out with his Polish friends, he would deliberately speak Polish with them, thereby excluding her.

Most of all, he wasn’t eager to start a family, saying his experiences in Poland during World War II, when he saw his mother rounded up and likely taken to Auschwitz, made him reluctant to bring a child into the world.

In the last year or two of her life, Tate had considered retiring from acting, especially after “Valley of the Dolls,” though a big money maker, was slammed by critics. The film follows the adventures of three young women — Tate, Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins — pursuing fame in music and in Hollywood.

The film has since gained a cult following for its “unconscious camp” and in the category of films like “The Room” that are so bad they are good, according to Longworth. Tate’s role in the film took on a tragic resonance in the years following her death: She plays Jennifer, a beautiful chorus girl who desperately wants to be taken seriously for something more than her perfect looks.

“(Tate) would say eerily about Jennifer, ‘She doesn’t mean anyone any harm, yet terrible things keep happening to her,\'” Longworth said.

In late March 1969, Tate got a creepy visit from Manson to her house on Cielo Drive. Longworth cites an incident when the scraggly-haired Manson stopped by the house, looking for Melcher. Tate and a photographer friend told him that Melcher no longer lived there. He left.

The next day, Tate flew to Rome to shoot her final film, a comedy called “The 13 Chairs.” In Europe, she could also spend time with her husband, who was working in London.

She finally broke the news to Polanski that she was pregnant — something neither of them had planned. She was afraid he’d ask her to get an abortion, but he didn’t.

In his autobiography, Polanski confessed he found her pregnant body to be radiantly beautiful. But his appreciation didn’t translate into his usual sexual desire, he admitted.

“The cooling of her husband’s lust for her made Sharon feel bad,” Longworth said.

Still, Tate stuck around London through July 1969. But she finally booked passage on the Queen Elizabeth 2 to return to the United States where she planned to have her baby.

“Roman had to stay behind to work,” Longworth said. “When Roman drove her to the dock, both began to cry as they said good-bye.”

While Tate was upset that her husband, by staying in London, risked missing the birth of their child, Polanski was overcome with a premonition that something terrible would happen.

“A grotesque thought flashed through my mind: ‘You will never see her again,\'” Polanski wrote, according to Longworth.

But he let Tate get on the boat. “As he walked off the ship and was walking back to his car, he told himself, ‘Snap out of it. Forget you ever had such a morbid feeling.\'”

This story has been updated to include the statement of Roman Polanski’s attorney, following news of Charles Manson’s death. 

Exclusive: Kevin Durant’s epiphany about being black in America

Kurtenbach: Michael Crabtree’s suspension is as excessive as his fight was stupid

How Warriors struggled to fill Curry, Durant absences in 110-106 loss to Kings

Northern California authorities hunt for escaped inmate with facial skull tattoo

Meghan Markle penned powerful essay on embracing her biracial identity

Co-worker’s stalking complaint leads to meth bust at Sunnyvale home

Melania Trump never wanted to be first lady, report says

Man arrested after drone drops leaflets on 49ers, Raiders games

Does singer-songwriter-pianist Tori Amos deserve to be enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? She made a convincing case for enshrinement in the Hall during her show at the Paramount Theatre.

Also, a big four-way superhero crossover on The CW, and Pentatonix gets festive

Former New York City Ballet star Wendy Whelan, who retired from the world of classical dance nearly four years ago, has refashioned her considerable artistry and emerged at midlife as a compelling modern dance interpreter, known for her collaborations with contemporary choreographers and musicians. Her “Restless Creatures” tour with four male choreographers drew rave reviews when it hit San Francisco...

Looking to get passes for the festival? Click here to get information about pre-sale passes. Also, we have information about lineup announcement.